Replenish your reserves - a yin yoga sequence for winter

Winter is the most yin of all the seasons. The shorter days and more hours of darkness help you to honour your body’s natural desire to seek greater rest, reflection and restoration. This enables you to replenish your inner reserves which may have become depleted through physical and/or mental exertion, especially during the more yang summer months.

Here’s a short sequence to help you replenish your reserves through focusing on poses which stimulate the Kidney and Urinary Bladder energy channels (the Kidneys are the body’s powerhouse in Traditional Chinese Medicine and the home of your life essence). Remember that this is a practice to help you to restore so if you notice any sensations becoming too intense, back off slightly or come out of the pose completely. There are numerous options for each pose and there’s not space to list them all here. If you like a particular version of a pose that I haven’t included below, please feel free to go with that. Have in mind that the focus is on the inner thighs and low back in particular so this may help you select an option which suits you when you come to your practice. The amount of time in each posture is entirely personal, but one suggestion is to set a timer for 3 minutes and if you find you want to stay for longer once your timer goes off, you have that option. Give yourself plenty of time between poses/sides to fully feel into the effects and to counter any tendencies to rush through your practice.

If you hold each pose for about 3 minutes and take a minute between poses, this sequence will take about 25-35 minutes.

1. Supine butterfly – lie on your back and take the soles of your feet together and knees wide. Position your arms wherever feels comfortable. As you settle into the pose, invite your breath to lengthen.

2. Supine bridge or pontoon pose – position a bolster, pillows or cushions beneath your sacrum (low part of the back) and lay the back of your torso on your mat. Your legs can be bent (supine bridge) or you can extend them and let your heels rest down (pontoon pose). Focus on allowing your low back to relax into the support beneath you.

3. Half dragonfly – extend one leg out to the side (it can be straight or bent) and fold the other leg in so the sole is towards the inside of the extended leg. You can stay sitting upright or fold forward, as far as feels appropriate to you. Repeat on the opposite side.

4. Sphinx pose – Lie on your front propped up on your forearms either with your arms out in front or hands on elbows (like the photo). Once you’ve come out of the pose, spend a few breaths lying on your front with your head or face resting on your mat.

5. Child’s pose – if it’s comfortable, try taking the knees a little wider to open up the inner thighs.

5. Relaxation – find any comfortable resting position and invite your whole body to relax. Allow all of your body’s effort to gradually fade away as you bask in your replenished energy. Give yourself 5-10 minutes resting here.